deepsounds mastering

"Our collaboration with Nikos, started back in 2012. Ever since then the mastering quality has always been at the highest sound standard and at perfect timing."

- Etoka Records

"Nikos' penchant for clarity and dedication to preserving the integrity of our artist's work make him a valuable friend and partner in our process."

- Dewtone Recordings

"Working with Nikos is a total pleasure. He is a diligent mastering engineer that pays equal attention to the finite details and the project at large. Enhancing the listeners audio experience is a labor of love for Nikos, which is apparent in his finished results."

- MOSHItaka

"First time when we heard Nikos, we definitely knew he is the right guy to master our releases. We decided to hire his services and from the first release he delivered top quality audio mastering."

- Quorum Records

"Between his outstanding sound, willingness to work with us and our artists to achieve the sound we are after and his professional and friendly attitude, he leaves nothing lacking when it comes to a top notch mastering engineer."

About

"deepsounds mastering" is a Rethymno-based sound studio, that offers high quality digital audio mastering. It is designed to meet the industry-standard, an acoustically transparent monitoring environment for sonic reproduction of sound.

It is owned and has been run by engineer and music producer Nikos Fragomanolakis since 2014. Nikos graduated from the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Athens, Greece. He also received his BS degree in ‘Applied Informatics & Multimedia’ from the Technological Educational Institute of Crete. He has been involved in audio mastering and production for many years and has collaborated with various artists and labels.

The deep research in the field of audio processing and his sharp sense of hearing, along with his cooperative and friendly attitude, helped him to rapidly evolve in the music business.

What is Mastering? Before & After

The basic idea behind the mastering process, is not so complex. Mastering is the art of giving a track the best sound possible. Mastering is not a magic process that will transform a bad mixdown to a reference master. In contrast, a perfect mixdown may not need any further processing at all. It all depends on the raw material that was previously used on the mixing process (recording techniques, samples etc).

Nowadays many people produce music in acoustically untreated environments (e.g bedrooms) or mix on headphones, this final step of quality control and polish, is crucial before sending music to the crowd and market.

Refinement of a track has to do with the overall tonal balance, dynamic range management, stereo imaging and last but not least the loudness. The main goal is making the material sound better, not making it sound just louder. This is why mastering is an art of compromise.

Main Concepts Of Mastering

The artistic concept is to bring the beautiful elements of a track to life and ‘highlight’ them, in order to ’shadow’ the unwanted ones and maintain an aesthetic equilibrium, according to the musical genre. The technical concept is to perform the above as transparently and as neutrally as possible, to enhance the sound quality using the right tools.

So the mastering engineer needs skills and critical ability to act responsibly and carefully without changing the essence of the track.

Studio

Works

Rates

mastering for digital format (CD, Beatport, iTunes, etc) :

25€ per track (up to 3 tracks)
20€ per track (4 or more tracks)

mastering for physical format (Vinyl) :

35€ per track (up to 3 tracks)
30€ per track (4 or more)

* Mastering a release for both (digital & physical) formats will get a discount.
* Label owners with minimum 2 releases per month will get a discount.
* Mastering in stems is also available for an extra 10€ per track.
* Mix check & mix advice to get the best possible mixdown before mastering is free of charge.